Speakers tout progress at Oxnard Earth Day event

Mark Sanchez, 7, of Oxnard, crossed a monkey bridge during Earth Day festivities at Plaza Park in Oxnard. The bridge was provided by Mike Sixbey, of Camarillo, a committee member with Boy Scouts troop 228. Sixbey said he learned how to make the bridge around 1970 and brings it to the event each year so the youths can learn how to make and cross it.

David Heartlife, center, with EarthCapades, hula hoops with others during Earth Day festivities at Plaza Park in Oxnard.

Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff

Gael Castro of Oxnard looks at a butterfly image drawn with different colors that came from the one of the various display booths during an Earth Day Celebration at Plaza Park in Oxnard.

Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff

Oxnard's 19th annual Earth Day festival on Saturday opened on Plaza Park's main stage with local and state politicians voicing their support for efforts to clean up the environment and heal the Earth.

"As someone who represents one of the most beautiful areas in America, I know that every day is Earth Day," said Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara. "We have made tremendous progress over the past 40 years and this year we have reason to celebrate recent advances in protecting our environment.

"Congress is making historic investments in renewable energy development to help build a clean energy economy," she said. "The monies are targeted toward renewable energy sources. My goal is to portray this as job opportunities."

Hundreds attended the festival, which featured live entertainment, food, arts and crafts and environmentally oriented activities. Oxnard got an early start; Earth Day's 40th anniversary will be April 22.

"Clean air, clean water is a right, not a privilege," said Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills. "I will continue to work on restoration of Ormond Beach and its wetlands."

Capps acknowledged that the administration's legislation has been slow to create jobs in the renewable energy sector, and that some have cast doubt on the objectivity of climate-related science.

"The science is clear," she said. "I grew up in Montana, next to Glacier Park, and have witnessed the disappearance of so many glaciers. According to a recent report, the shrinking glaciers are now changing the whole ecological makeup in the park.

"Yes, the jobs are coming slower than I wish, but these festivals are a sign of popular support. We need to focus on what we can do. I think we're raising a generation more cognizant of the environment and the human affect. That's why I support current legislative efforts to reduce our carbon footprint."

A few steps from the main stage, a crowd of kids and adults gathered at the RRI Energy booth for a hands-on introduction to making nature prints. Prints are made by spraying a plant with a water-based paint, then folding it in a sheet of paper. The paper is placed between two pieces of wood and pressed by standing on it.

"The thought is to get the kids interested in the environment," said Tom McCormick, a RRI Energy biologist. "We use plants that are familiar to the kids. We're trying to reach out to the community, show them we're concerned about the environment."

RRI Energy owns and operates power generation facilities in eight states, including the power plant at Ormond Beach.

John Mihatov, power plant general manager, said it was the first time RRI Energy had been a part of Oxnard's Earth Day festivities.

"We bought the plant in 1998 and this is our first attempt to get out in the community," said Mihatov. "We want to establish that we're part of the solution in terms of the environment. In addition to the annual Ormond Beach cleanup, we've done a lot or restoration of the environment."

At another booth, members of the Oxnard Sugartown Rollergirls roller derby team attracted a crowd by showing how to cut off the bottom half of a plastic water bottle and make it into a planter by adding potting soil.

"This festival used to be Ventura's, but we got it from them 19 years ago," said Ventura County Supervisor John Zaragoza. " When we first started it we had nothing, but look at it now."